Sunday, April 21, 2013

As
soon as the Liberals selected Justin Trudeau to become their leader, the ruling
Conservative government’s attack ads began.

The ads on television and a website are similar to the attacks on former
Liberal leaders Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff, suggesting they weren’t up
to the job.

A
political rookie and former high-school teacher, Trudeau, 41, was the choice of
the party that slumped to third place in the Commons in the 2011 election.

He
is the eldest son of the late prime minister Pierre Trudeau and said he would
not dignify the Conservative offensive about his inexperience with a response.

“Justin
Trudeau may have a famous last name, but in a time of global economic
uncertainty he doesn’t have the judgment or experience to be prime minister,”
Conservative spokesperson Fred DeLorey said.

After his first-ballot victory over six other candidates last weekend, Trudeau
called for an end to Liberal party infighting and division so “the party of (late
prime minister) Wilfrid Laurier can rediscover its sunny ways.”

He
said voters are “fed up with leaders who pit Canadians against Canadians, west
against east, rich against poor, Quebec against the rest of the country, urban
against rural.”